Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A sock and turtle

It was a long, stressful visit to Denver this past week and a half. I lost my wonderful grandpa and wanted to help with dealing with the estate, not realizing times like these can bring out the ugliest in people. Thankfully I had my knitting with me and I finally finished sock number two for mum's Christmas present. I had to rip it out when I was about to knit the toe because I didn't pay attention to how many decreases I needed to do for the foot. My mum's little foot was swimming in the sock. It is a really quick knit, especially when I'm anxious since that gets me knitting faster! My 11-year-old cousin's birthday was also last week and I decided to knit him a turtle. I finished it well into the night my last day in Denver and he came out pretty cute. I think my cousin liked him too. I will post pictures of him later this week when I get more time to breathe and get back to knitting.
Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Wish List: Shibui


I've been on a total fiber craving spree for a few weeks now. I think it might be a bit of a therapy thing. Or maybe the couple days of cool weather tickled me into feelings of fall. I really want to get back up to Knit Purl and get some Shibui yarn and patterns. My late summer favorite yarn: Staccato in 50's Kitchen. I could just feel how amazing this is by looking at it! I managed to swing by and nab up the last three skeins they had before catching my flight to Denver. And to go with this perfect-for-socks yarn I've been wanting to get the Shibui Socks pattern booklet. Oh they are so lovely! Hopefully I can make my way up soon to Portland's Pearl District and indulge in my yearning for more Shibui yarn and get some fun patterns for fall knitting.

Happy Knitting!
Cerise : )

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Holiday Crafts

Hear is a sneak peak at a crafty project I have up my sleeve. These will be much more exciting and hopefully an enjoyable holiday present for the recipients. I love the colors available at the craft store and they are made in India (rather than cheapo Made in China stuff they mostly have). Hopefully I have all the embroidery floss colors I'll need, though I usually never do have all the right stuff.






Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

My Photo of the Week


Meet the goat at Blueberry Meadows.
A shy guy who was enjoying the blueberries tossed in his pen.
I think I have a thing for taking pictures of goats, sheep, and llamas.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

More Projects on the Needles!

Here's what else are on the needles:


I am hoping to have this sock done by the time I drive back to Oregon next weekend. These are a Christmas present for some lady I know. I used WAY more yarn that I thought I would on the first one and had to wait to get another skein in to start the second sock. I LOVE this yarn. It's Knit Picks Shine Sport in Grasshopper green. I could live in this stuff! I also really like the sock pattern (Meida's Socks, Nancy Bush, Interweave Knits). The pattern texture is wonderful and I really like the heal flap. Overall, this is definitely one of my favorite projects!

Happy Knitting,
Cerise : )

Friday, August 20, 2010

Garden Beautiful

Okay, this really isn't crafting but I thought I'd share the beautiful sunflowers in the garden. These were random additions to the garden thanks to the birds. They are so amazing!
Happy Gardening!
Cerise : )

Thursday, August 19, 2010

On the Needles

Here's what's on the needles for this week
(along with many other UFOs!):


A sweater shell based on the Ninebark Cowl pattern from Knitscene, Winter/Spring 2010 issue. I hate the cowl so I'm leaving that out and I'm trying to make it more custom to my torso. I also want some poofy-ish sleeves that will be added hopefully on my "long" airplane ride today. Overall I don't think it will really end up much like the Ninebark Cowl at all but that was definitely an inspiration.

Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Friday, August 13, 2010

Feature Artist Friday: Song and Branch

It's Friday and time for another feature artist! This week our feature artist is Karen Dorweiler of Song and Branch from Seattle, Washington.



Karen makes cute and creative porcelain miniatures and sculptures. The subtle detail in her works gives her creations so much life and personality. Each critter is made individually by hand without molds and tools are only used to bring out little details. The porcelain is bisque fired and glazed with wonderful colors. There is definitely something you will fall in love with in Song and Branch's shop. And it's not too early to think Christmas!




You can fan Song and Branch on Facebook and shop Karen's wonderful creations on Song and Branch's Etsy page.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Lady's Craft Night


Last week I hosted a lady's craft night at my house. We made sushi, drank saki, and ate mochi ice cream. To go along with the japanese theme we made origami paper lanterns to put on light strings. Them came out so great! It's hard to see just how pretty them look glowing in a dark room. This was a really easy and fun project. The lights don't get hot so they can be left on a long time with the paper lanterns on them and not catch on fire (at least they haven't so far). I'm going to attempt making a million of these little lanterns and string lights on patio to add a wonderful glow for hot summer evenings. I can't wait for our next craft party!

Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Monday, August 9, 2010

Watch out for Vikings!


My neighbor Nicole and I decided to start getting together to do some sewing projects. She had some really great pictures of cute viking plush pillow people and we decided to make some similar guys. We set out to the fabric stores to find some viking inspiring prints and textures. This was a surprisingly difficult task. Corduroy was a definite and some checks and plaid prints were chosen. Nicole had some great red and orange toned fabrics for the cheeks and noses already in her stash. We set off to making patterns for our people. We have made some good progress the past two days but now are a bit stuck at the beards. The fur fabric just isn't cutting it so we are going to experiment with alpaca roving and wool felt to see what we can make. I think they are awesome so far! They will definitely be very viking with their horns and rugged beards!

Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Cozy Cosy


Even though our little Singer sewing machines are portable and come with cases, I like to leave mine on top of my work table. Sad to say, I do not use it everyday so it gathers some dust. My friend Michelle wrapped a present to me in some wonderful fabric and let me keep it. I have been contemplating what to use it for and here it is: a cosy for my sewing machine! I first made one for Cerise out of dinosaur material (from the now closed NHM) then made mine out of this wonderful sewing machine material. Thanks Michelle!
Theresa, OmMama